Between now and March 2024 we're making changes to the way providers interact with CQC. We're Introducing a range of new and improved digital services to give providers a faster, easier and streamlined way to share information with us, including a new provider portal.
Our new portal will offer a better experience when submitting statutory notifications and completing some registration actions.
We've started inviting users of our existing portal to join the new portal and will invite all existing users by the end of February 2024. If you've received an invite to join the new portal, sign up now without delay.
At the moment, only those who have been invited can join the new portal. But from the start of March 2024 any provider can register on the new portal and set up their account.
Here's what to do to get ready for these changes:
- Make sure all the contact details we hold for your organisation are correct (you'll need to sign up to the new portal using an email address we have on record)
- Watch the introduction to our new provider portal
- As soon as you receive an invite, sign up to our new portal
- If you don't receive an invite to the new portal, sign up as soon as you can from the start of March 2024
At the end of February 2024, our existing provider portal will become read-only. That means you won't be able to use the portal to make changes or send us new information. You will still be able to access and download your saved data until the end of March 2024.
Action required for users of our existing provider portal
Please note that existing accounts on our current portal will not be automatically transferred to the new provider portal. This means action is required on your part:
- Register for our new portal as soon as you are invited
- Check your inbox for invites. Invitations to join the new portal are being sent out and all existing users will be invited by the end of February 2024
- If you have not yet received your invite yet, don't worry, just make sure your contact details are up-to-date to receive your direct invite
- Once you're signed up to our new portal, remember to log in to the existing portal and download your saved data before the end of March 2024
Providers must notify us about certain changes, events and incidents that affect their service or the people who use it. Giving us the right information first time means you'll need to spend less time responding to our requests for further information.
Here are some top tips for getting notifications right:
- If you have access to the provider portal (current or new), this is the easiest and quickest way for you to submit a notification.
- If you're using a Word form, always download the latest version from our website rather than using saved versions as we change our forms from time to time.
- Make sure the provider and location IDs and name of provider entered on the form are correct. It is important to remember this will have changed if you have made changes to your legal entity. You will find your provider ID and the location IDs on your latest certificate of registration.
- Make sure all the fields on the notification form are completed.
- Keep up to date with the latest guidance on submitting notifications.
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You should always receive a submission notification and a reference when you have correctly submitted a notification. If you do not receive this CQC may not have received your information.
For the best and fastest way to submit notifications, sign up to our new provider portal as soon as you receive your invite.
 During our ongoing transformation, we’ve identified a technical issue with how we receive a small number of statutory notifications from some providers. We are reviewing all notifications affected by this issue to check that appropriate actions have been taken to keep people safe and following up urgently where required.
What’s happened?
One of the ways providers submit notifications to us is by completing and emailing Microsoft Word forms. Once received, these forms are manually processed and entered into our system.
As is always the case when completing any type of form, errors can and do occur. A typical error we see is where the provider has not completed their provider or location ID number correctly. In the past, colleagues in our National Customer Service Centre (NCSC) would contact and work with the provider to correct these errors.
To reduce the need for this manual intervention, the validation process in our new provider portal prevents errors like this from occurring – you can only submit a form if it is completed properly. So, in the future, once all providers are using the new portal, issues like this will not occur.
However, as we’ve been introducing new internal systems over the last couple of months, some incorrectly completed forms have not been recorded properly in the new system. This has resulted in a delay in processing some notifications.
Our next steps
- A technical update is now in place so this issue is now stopped. We’re working Through the notifications that were not recorded correctly
- We’re working to ensure that there hasn’t been any impact to people who use services because of this issue. Indications so far are that this does not appear to have been the case.
- Work is continuing on inviting providers to join the new portal.
- Going forward, where Word forms have not been completed correctly, we will be returning them to the provider rather than trying to correct them internally.
What do providers need to do?
- Please ensure the contact details we hold for you are up to date. We use the information we hold to contact you with instructions on how to sign up to the new portal.
- Begin using the new portal when you are invited to do so. Using the new portal will help prevent errors occurring.
- If you are not yet on the new portal and are using Word notifications forms, please check the details carefully before submitting them.
 Our new assessment approach is now live across our South region.
This is part of a staged rollout and over the next few months we'll start using our new assessment approach in other parts of the country.
What can providers do to prepare:
NOTE: Our new approach is not currently being used for services we do not rate. We will be in touch with those providers directly for more information about when the new approach will apply to them.
 We'll be adapting our new assessment approach throughout this year, responding to anything we learn as we roll out across the country.
We want to hear your feedback on preparing for our new approach and any experiences of being assessed using our new approach.
Your feedback will ensure we adapt our approach to meet the needs of people who use services and providers.
 We now have a WhatsApp channel where we will be sharing the latest updates on our new regulatory approach.
Please note that as WhatsApp Channels may not be available to all users yet we won't be posting content that hasn't already been shared by other means.
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